Not guilty plea in computer crime case

A Juneau man accused of a felony computer crime is scheduled to go to trial in April for allegedly placing a keylogger on a woman’s computer without her knowledge.

Timothy Ryan Johnson, 27, made his first court appearance on Tuesday for his arraignment in Juneau Superior Court before Judge Louis Menendez.

Johnson entered a not plea through his defense attorney Julie Willoughby. A three-day trial is scheduled to begin April 8.

Johnson was indicted by a Juneau grand jury last month on a single felony “criminal use of a computer” charge, which prohibits using keyloggers or other devices to intercept or record another person’s keystrokes or computer entries. That’s a class ‘C’ felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

According to the affidavit, Johnson told police he placed the keylogger on her computer to see if she was cheating on him.

The woman contacted the Empire after news of the indictment broke, and she says that they were not dating at that time.

Johnson is next scheduled to appear in court for an omnibus hearing on Feb. 4 and a pretrial hearing on March 21.

Johnson was previously released on his own recognizance. The judge ordered Tuesday he be prohibited from contacting the woman in this case.